"The Glass Menagerie"by Tennessee Williams

When reality does not prove to be satisfying to an individual, they create a fantasy world in which to live. In The Glass Menagerie and A Street Car Named Desire, by Tennessee Williams, the characters generate stories to make their world more pleasing to them. The Glass Menagerie presents a desperate mother of two grown children, who wants the best for them so badly that when her dreams do not come true, she makes up stories to hide her own reality. A Street Car Named Desire, introduces a lonely hopeless woman, who because of negative things she has done in the past, now, to cover them up, lies so much that she actually believes herself. Tennessee Williams substantiates the theory that if a person's real life proves unbearable then they might exchange their reality for a creation of lies that their mind has manufactured.

The Glass Menagerie, begins with Amanda Wingfield, being overly optimistic about the possible occurrence of gentleman callers, for her shy, partially crippled daughter, Laura. This wishful thinking turns into a story about how many gentlemen callers she received as a young woman, which Tom, her son who yearns for adventure, hates. Early on, Amanda finds out that Laura has secretly dropped out of Business College and scolds her because now she may have jeopardized her future. In the following scene, Amanda finds Tom writing and begins nagging him about petty problems, how selfish she finds him, and how she wonders where he goes at nights, to which Tom responds facetiously saying that he plans on "going to opium dens" and that he has "joined the Hogan gang" (Glass 514). Tom then leaves and comes back to the house drunk and finds Laura waiting up for him. The next morning, Amanda asks Tom

to find Laura a gentlemen caller at the warehouse where he works. Reluctantly, he does invite a man by the name of Jim O'Conner, a person on whom Laura had a crush in high school. Once Amanda hears of this news she mak...